Wikipedia:Autistic editors

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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This page in a nutshell: Contributors on the autism spectrum may have different wiring patterns in their brains, but that does not mean they are stupid. Understand their differences and try to make good use of those differences!

Wikipedia is the ultimate honeypot! If a group of researchers had been given the task of creating a working/hobby environment specifically designed to attract autistic people, they could not have come up with anything better than Wikipedia!

As with many things, when it comes to real-world applications, autism spectrum disorder is probably best not thought of as a "disorder" or "disability", as it is really just differences in thought-processing methods. Adding the label of disorder or disability changes the way we think about things; it shifts us into the paradigm of deficiency, whereas in real terms it can be just "uncommon" or "unusual", in the same way that some hair colours, some eye colours, etc. are "uncommon" or "unusual".

The hard-wiring of brains

The human brain has millions upon millions of nerve fibres, and connections (like switches) between those fibres. Different areas of the brain specialize in different functions. Some areas have vast amounts of wiring (or very highly active wiring), and some have more sparse (or less active) wiring.

Everybody's brain is unique. Areas where there is a greater intensity of wiring than average usually result in that person having stronger abilities—particular skills, talents, and sparks of genius—than the average person does, and areas where there is more-sparse-than-average wiring generally result in abilities a bit lower than average for those functions. This is all normal; different people are just wired differently. This helps explain why some people are much better at maths than other people, whereas others are much better at art, or sports, or subjects like history and geography, in which the learning of facts is given greater emphasis.

Our brain is a living thing. It can adapt, to a degree. If we learn new skills or practice more to improve on existing skills, our brains will increase the intensity of the wiring and the amount of connections in the areas which deal with those skills. They're a bit like computers that can re-wire themselves and add in extra peripherals when needed. If one part of the brain gets physically damaged, the rest can often adapt (to a degree) by building new wiring pathways to circumvent that damage (with the right training and support). With this all said, natural predispositions also still exist. Some people have natural talents or are predisposed to excelling at certain tasks such that even with practice, it is not likely that everybody can learn every skill.

Explaining the differences

When using the computer metaphor^[1] for brain structure and function, the majority of people (i.e. those who are "neurotypical") have very intense/active wiring in the typical areas of their brains, and much more sparse/inactive wiring in other areas, as standard. That's what their "default settings" are; it's what they're born with. Autistic people, including those with Asperger's, have more sparse (or inactive) wiring in some of the areas where neurotypicals are heavily wired, and more intense (or more active)—sometimes much more intense—wiring in different areas. If the "activity" of the circuits in some areas of neurotypical brains are temporarily reduced, they temporarily perceive the world more like autistics do.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

The only generalisations we can make are as follows:

Typically, one of the areas which is less actively-wired than average, for people with autism or Asperger's, is the area dealing with innate comprehension of some social interactions, and some other functions which are processed in the same area. This means that some things just "don't come naturally" in the way that they do with neurotypical people.
Typically, people with autism or Asperger's will have one or more things which "come naturally" to them which don't for neurotypicals; this won't be the same set of talents for all people with autism or Asperger's, as there is a lot of variety here.
Typically, there is very often a difference in the way that language is processed, too. People with autism or Asperger's are often hard-wired to interpret things very literally and to focus on detail. They often tend to say everything that needs to be said and expect others to do so as well. That's the default setting.

This means we sometimes end up misunderstanding eachother.

Imagine three people, all listening to the same piece of music, but on different systems. One person's system has the treble turned up and the mid-range and bass turned down; one has the mid-range turned up but the treble and bass turned down; the third has the bass turned up but the mid-range and treble turned down. That's like having two autistic people and a neurotypical in the same room. It's the same piece of music they're all listening to, but it sounds completely different to each one of them, and they can't help the fact that it sounds different. They can't adjust their ears! If none of them realise that the music is balanced differently for each of them, then they're each going to end up thinking that the other two are stupid, stubborn, lazy, crazy, or whatever, for not being able to understand what they personally hear so obviously and clearly. (See also Blind men and an elephant#The story)

Once we understand these differences, it becomes easier not just to deal with them, but to make really good use of them.

People with autism or Asperger's can be capable of really intense concentration and focus on things that other people may not fixate on as much. This has an up-side and a down-side.

The downside is that it can be really hard for autistic contributors to drop the stick and let something go—much, much harder than it is for neurotypicals; like having a raging thirst and being told you're not allowed to drink what's in front of you. That's not an excuse for carrying on doing that, it's just something which autistic users need to be aware of and take special care with. Other contributors should help them let go by kindly and clearly reminding them about it; maybe finding something much more interesting for them to focus on instead.

The up-side is that an autistic editor "on a mission" can be an adamantly dedicated researcher and fixer-of-things. When it comes to any task where obsessive-compulsives may excel, autistics are also worth their weight in gold. Autistic editors can churn out, from scratch, a Featured Article-quality piece of work in just a few days if they get hooked on doing it, and if they're hooked, they can do it easily.

Autistics may have a phenomenal data-storage type of memory. The down-side is that memories of past disputes and emotional baggage left over from real life can get in the way. The up-side is that once they've familiarized themselves with Wikipedia's policies, they comprehend them astoundingly well and can come up with loads of ways to explain them, which is incredibly helpful when dealing with autistic newcomers. One of the best ways for a neurotypical to train an autistic newcomer is to have a well-versed, experienced autistic contributor available to help them.

Dealing with it in the WikiWorld

Some people, whether on the autism spectrum or not, are just unfit to contribute to Wikipedia. Vandals, trolls, and abusive and disruptive editors can be blocked or banned, and being on the autism spectrum is no excuse for unacceptable behaviour.

On the other hand, some of our very best contributors are on the autism spectrum, and we have some excellent autistic admins here.

In fact, it's very probable that here on Wikipedia, we have a much higher percentage of people on the autism spectrum than you might find in the general population. Wikipedia is like a honeypot for people on the autism spectrum.

There are two sides to this:

Neurotypical users need to be aware that they're more likely to encounter autistic people on Wikipedia than they are in real life, and to know how best to work productively with them.
People on the autism spectrum need to be aware that pulling the "Oh, but I'm a poor misunderstood person with autism or Asperger's" card out of the pack is a bad move! There are a lot of users on Wikipedia, and we can tell when someone's attempting to use their neurological condition (or other factors) as an excuse. Being on the autism spectrum does not give you an excuse to be a jerk as well.

All users, whether neurotypical or on the autism spectrum, need to be prepared to be creative in finding alternative ways of explaining things, remembering that thought processes which come naturally to you may very well not come naturally to the person you're talking to.

Drawing parallels which activate different areas of the brain can work extremely well here. Relating a concept to sounds or colours (or sometimes to shapes) can make an enormous difference.
Avoid ambiguity wherever you possibly can. People on the autism spectrum can have very literal minds, and it's just as easy to pick up the wrong end of the stick as it is to pick up the right end, and very hard to let it go and turn it around. Be very clear; some of the most common problems arise from simple good-faith misunderstanding of what the other person actually meant.
It's always worthwhile to rephrase an explanation or ask for an alternative explanation. Dispute resolution can be a good place to find people who can come up with a different explanation that can hopefully make things easier to understand.
If you are neurotypical, don't leave things to be inferred, include them, especially if they're important! People on the autism spectrum may have real trouble understanding why you would choose to "hide" important stuff from them. If you don't say anything, they might as well assume that there is nothing more to be said.
Avoid inserting extra meanings into what a contributor on the autism spectrum says. They are likely to be saying exactly what they mean, and not meaning anything else.

Facts and information can be of remarkably high sentimental value for people on the autism spectrum; they're like assets that can be "owned" and "given away" at the same time. And because so many people on the autism spectrum see "knowing stuff" and "remembering stuff" as their major strength, they may be devastated to discover that something they have learned may not be true after all. It's as though they had been lied to or had something stolen from them. That can be very upsetting, so be tactful when disillusioning people about the accuracy of what they "know". Explain it along the lines of "more accurate stuff has been discovered since you learned that. Here is some new information that you can share." An individual on the autism spectrum who has some of their most treasured facts disproven, debunked or refuted can be as badly affected as a child who is told that there is no Santa Claus or someone who is told that their house has been burgled. This is why they can get so emotional about it. This is a very simple but very important paradigm shift; it turns you from someone who is "attacking their knowledge" to someone who is "giving them better knowledge".

It's as powerful as the difference between saying, "I just burnt your house down!" and saying, "I just bought you a new house!"

Understanding and tolerance

It's super important for non-autistic people to internalise the notion that autism spectrum disorders which don't affect basic intelligence (or the appearance of it) don't cause people living with them to be "disabled" in any way. Neurotypical and autistic processing are just differences.^[8]

Compared to neurotypicals, high-functioning autistics and people with Asperger's have a "disability" only in terms of the intuitive understanding of social interactions and differences in language processing. On the other side of the coin, and just as valid, is that neurotypicals have a "disability" compared to autistics in the area of processing, indexing, and rapidly accessing information. Each type has an area of dysfunctionality compared to the other type.

In the same way that autistics can appear (to neurotypicals) to have seriously sub-standard levels of language and interaction processes, neurotypicals may appear (to high-functioning people with Autism/Aspergers, and to autistic savants), to have almost-moronic levels of data processing. This is why we lose patience with each other so readily; it's virtually impossible for each type to be able to believe that the other type isn't being disruptive, disingenuous, or dishonest (or "disabled").

One of the best parallels is to think of the two types as two different types of computers. One type of computer has a wonderfully intuitive user interface, but comparatively lousy data-handling power. The other type has vast data-storage and data-processing powers, but a really lousy (comparatively speaking) user interface. It's a simple case of each computer type coming pre-loaded with different software; not different power. There's a huge "mythconception" amongst neurotypicals about what the autism spectrum really is. That mythconception causes so many problems for all of us, and enlightened education is the only answer to it. So, in short, please don't equate autism with disability or intellectual incompetence! Neither high-functioning autistics nor neurotypicals are "thick" compared to the others. We're just different in where our processors direct the power.

References

^ Epstein, Robert (18 May 2016). Weintraub, Pam (ed.). "Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer".
^ Koenig; Tsatsanis; Volkmar (2001). The development of autism: Perspectives from theory and research. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. pp. 81–101. ISBN 9781138866614.
^ Minshew, NJ (1996). "Brief report: Brain mechanisms in autism: Functional and structural abnormalities". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 26 (2): 205–209. doi:10.1007/BF02172013. PMID 8744486. S2CID 8134205.
^ Sugranyes, Gisela (2011). "Autism Spectrum Disorders and Schizophrenia: Meta Analysis of the Neural Correlate of Social Cognition". PLOS ONE. 6.10 (E25322): e25322. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...625322S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025322. PMC 3187762. PMID 21998649.
^ Dapretto, M.; Davies; M.S.; Pfeifer; J.H.; Scott; et al. (2006). "Understanding emotions in others: Mirror Neuron dysfunction in children with autism spectrum disorder". Nature Neuroscience. 9 (1): 28–30. doi:10.1038/nn1611. PMC 3713227. PMID 16327784.
^ Snyder; et al. (2003). "Savant-like skills exposed in normal people by suppressing the left fronto-temporal lobe" (PDF). Journal of Integrative Neuroscience. pp. 149–158. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
^ Snyder; et al. (2006). "Savant-like numerosity skills revealed in normal people by magnetic pulses" (PDF). Perception. pp. 837–845. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
^ Baron-Cohen S (2002). "Is Asperger syndrome necessarily viewed as a disability?". Focus Autism Other Dev Disabl. 17 (3): 186–91. doi:10.1177/10883576020170030801. S2CID 145629311.A preliminary, freely readable draft, with slightly different wording in the quoted text, is in: Baron-Cohen S (2002). "Is Asperger's syndrome necessarily a disability?" (PDF). Cambridge: Autism Research Centre. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-02.

The hard-wiring of brains

Explaining the differences

Dealing with it in the WikiWorld

Understanding and tolerance

See also

References

Further reading